Coquette (United Artists Pressbook) (1929)

“Coquette” During Run Stories WRITERS AMAZED BY THIS 7 — One-Col. Scene (Mat 5 c, Cut 30c) MOST MODERN MARY PICKFORD “Come, let’s salute the new Mary Pickford. America’s old sweetheart is dead. Long live the new sweet¬ heart with the charm and the mod¬ ern appeal of the latest Mary Pick¬ ford.” Thus speaks Louella Parsons, nationally known writer of film news and personalities, in a recent syndicated article entitled, “Holly¬ wood Has. Another Vamp! She’s Our Mary.” “Mary Pickford, whose curls have for many years been the screen’s most famous prop, has dis¬ carded permanently the Pickford coiffure in favor of a short, modish bob.” Miss Parsons vividly describes the surprise which was hers when she first saw the new Mary. “Imag¬ ine, then, my complete amazement to see a gorgeous girl come walk¬ ing gracefully toward me. My world turned topsy turvy. I came to lunch with the Mary I have al¬ ways known, the dignified Mrs. Fairbanks, who is worried whether the public will like Doug in his latest, and who has just entertained some visiting member of some royal family, and I find a siren with whom every member of her com¬ pany, from Sam Taylor and her leading man, John Mack Brown, to the prop boys, has fallen in love.” In a recent article which ap¬ peared in Photoplay Magazine, Adela Rogers St. John, novelist, short story writer and friend of the films, describes in intimate detail, the real motives underlying the radical change from the little-girl Mary to the newly born woman. “As long as her mother lived Mary Pickford would not bob her hair. To Charlotte Pickford, Mary’s curls were the symbol of the won¬ derful child and artistic genius she had given to the world. They rep¬ resented Mary’s greatness. They were the actual crown of the Pick¬ ford sovereignty over all the people of the earth who love motion pic¬ tures.” “When it could no longer wound her mother, Mary cut off her curls,” Mrs. St. John writes. “Mary is going to start out without her curls and try to win herself—not her old place, but a new place. Photograph¬ ically Mary Pickford is the most beautiful woman on the screen today. Before her are new worlds to conquer. She is at a time in her life when most great stage ac- tressses are just coming into their own. If she has the courage of her convictions, she will be something more than a great star, a deathless personality, a tradition. She will be a truly great artist, and her name will be added to those of Bern¬ hardt and Duse upon the roster of fame.” Frederick Collins, well known magazine writer, visited Hollywood a short time ago in search of a possible successor to Mary Pick¬ ford. In a recent issue of the Wom¬ an’s Home Companion he tells of the afternoon he spent with Miss Pickford at her beach home. “Something important and deep down has happened to Mary Pick¬ ford,” Mr. Collins writes. “To me she has never looked more beau¬ tiful or more truly young. There was an air about the slim, young figure, the high-held head, the wide, shining eyes that never had been there before, the air of having put away childish things. “It wasn’t just the loss of the curls. She had cut something far more important, the link that bound her to the past. Such a Mary, on the threshold of new triumphs as a mature and distinguished artist, could afford to talk unregretfully of her successor.” After looking over the field of future candidates for Pickfordian honors, Mr. Collins, reached the conclusion that the race would be what it has always been, a free- for-all. “ ‘Our Mary,’ in her sweet and simple way, has steadfastly de¬ clined to be succeeded as the movie queen. She has been nice to the baby star, but she has defeated her own best intentioned efforts for them by appearing in their collec¬ tive photographs as the youngest and the fairest of the lot.” MARY PICKFORD in "Coquette.’ SAM TAYLOR Sam Taylor, genius of the mega¬ phone, who directed Mary Pick- ford’s all-talking version of “Co¬ quette,” is having his first taste of stage direction after twelve years beside the silent camera. Mr. Taylor was born in New York City and was graduated from Fordham College with the class of 1915. During his university days he wrote and sold motion picture scenarios to the old Kalem Com¬ pany. Immediately upon gradua¬ tion he joined the Kalem forces as editor, scenario writer, and director. This was followed by directorial engagements with the Vitagraph and Universal companies. In 1920 Mr. Taylor went to Los Angeles and spent the next five years as director for the Harold Lloyd comedies, including “Grand¬ ma’s Boy,” “For Heaven’s Sake,” “Girl Shy,” “Safety Last,” “Why Worry,” and “The Freshman.” After leaving the Lloyd company, Mr. Taylor directed Beatrice Lillie in “Exit Smiling,” and then joined the United Artists’ organization. Recent productions made under his directorship are Mary Pickford in “My Best Girl,” John Barrymore in “Tempest,” and Norma Talmadge in “The Woman Disputed.” MARY’S VOICE—NEW MARVEL OF THE SCREEN MARY PICKFORD WON OVER MICROPHONES Mary Pickford came to the sound stages, saw the microphones and ponquered them in “Coquette,” her new, all-talking picture now show¬ ing at the . Theatre. During the recording of her first scene in the picture, Miss Pickford was as excited as a small child. “I feel just as I used to feel in the old days when the curtain went up and it was time for me to step out on the stage,” Miss Pickford whispered as she waited for Direc¬ tor Sam Taylor to announce that all was in readiness for the scene. By the time the final episodes of the picture were recorded Miss Pickford was as much at home on the sound stages as before the silent cameras. Miss Pickford’s victory over the menace of the microphones was the ^"result of a deliberate and carefully- planned campaign. When she cut off her world-famous curls and de¬ cided to bring to the screen an en¬ tirely new personality, she sub¬ mitted to the most rigorous voice tests possible. Finding that she pos¬ sessed the most perfect recording voice in filmdom, she determined to make an all-talking production. Miss Pickford selected “Co¬ quette,” the dramatic and emotional Broadway stage success, as her bat¬ tle equipment, and adapted it espe¬ cially for the screen. With expert generalship, she surrounded herself with a cast of players, all of whom, with the exception of her leading man, John Mack Brown, possessed a background of stage experience. “The sound pictures present an entirely new technique,” Miss Pick¬ ford believes, “they are a combina¬ tion of both the stage and the screen with an added art all their own. We, who are testing their possibilities, are the pioneers in an entirely new field of amusement en¬ deavor.” In “Coquette,” her first all-talk¬ ing picture, now playing at the .Theatre, Miss Pickford adds another title to her long scroll of screen honors. Known always as the “girl with the perfect photo¬ graphic face,” she now proves that she is “the woman with the perfect screen voice.” In this picture her tones range from the light, resilien¬ cy of the youthful and gay epi¬ sodes, to the deep and throbbing maturity of the dramatic scenes. As the little coquette, Miss Pick¬ ford runs the entire gamut of hu¬ man emotions, and her voice echoes harmoniously her many moods. The greatest charm of the voice which speaks from the shadowed lips of Miss Pickford is its true¬ ness to the personality of its speak¬ er. Her tones catch the very spirit of the young woman on the screen. In “Coquette” she is bringing her true self to the screen, a cultured, poised, brilliant woman. Her voice possesses the flawless diction of culture and the finished smoothness of poise and experience. This is the first time that the voice of Mary Pickford has been heard since her childhood years be¬ hind the footlights of the theatre. With a fundamental knowledge of the theatre and the use of the hu¬ man voice, Miss Pickford was, in the beginning, a lap ahead of the screen luminaries whose only ex¬ perience has been before the cam¬ eras. With her usual perfection of de¬ tail Miss Pickford studied the in¬ tricacies of the sound recording de¬ vices, and rehearsed herself and her company until each inflection, each tone, of their voices was as near perfect as human agency could make it. Each scene of “Coquette” was rehearsed countless times, and experimental records made of the voices, before the final recording of sound and action. 10 — Two-Col. Scene (Mat 10c, Cut 50c) MARY PICKFORD in"Coquett E : MARY PICKFORD IN MOODS OF FASHION Mary Pickford, who is appearing in her first all-talking picture, “Co¬ quette,” at the.Theatre believes that the emotions of a dra¬ matic scene can be accented by the clothing worn by the players. In “Coquette” she wears five gowns, each one expressive of the underly¬ ing feeling of the scenes in which it appears. The frock she wears in the open¬ ing episodes is an orchid tulle dancing dress. The gay girlishness of it expresses the buoyancy of the little flirt, who tells each of her Southern beaux that he is “ador¬ able,” and then dances,, on to the next conquest. x Miss Pickford’s second evening gown, worn in the dramatic scenes of the country club, where she meets her lover, Michael Jeffrey, and goes with him to his cabin in the hills, is a subtle combination of naivete and sophistication. The shell pink satin bodice of this frock is girdled with vari-colored ribbon, and the short satin shirt is masked by tiers of silver-edged net ruffles. The revealing maturity of its close fitting lines is half masked by its youthful bouffancy. In this expres¬ sive gown Miss Pickford, as Norma Besant, steps from carefree girl¬ hood into tragic womanhood. The apple green, printed silk morning dress, which she wears in the later dramatic scenes spells pathos in the youth of its lines. The gaiety of its coloring and the chic of its design enhance the tragedy into which Norma wears it. And for. the heartbreak of the episodes following the death of Michael Miss Pickford chose a beige tailored dress, severe in its simplicity. A delicate psychology of clothes was expressed in the court-room outfit worn by the desolate little coquette. Constrained to pretend a guilty love to save the life of her father, Norma dares not wear mourning for her dead sweetheart. For this sequence Miss Pickford chose a tweed ensemble suit of marine blue, with cuffs and collar gray fox fur, and a girlishly simple gray felt hat. The lightness of the costume’s coloring serves to accen¬ tuate the pathetic efforts of Norma to conceal her grief. Miss Pickford brought four of the five “Coquette” gowns with her from Paris. A READY-TO You will love her! Mary Pickford, of course, the new Mary Pickford who came to the‘screen of the.The¬ atre yesterday jn her newest, all- talking picture, “Coquette.” To hear Mary Pickford and to see her in this newest picture is to experience a revelation. The old Mary, with her curls and her lit¬ tle-girl dresses, is gone forever. The new Mary of “Coquette” is the last word in smart young wom¬ anhood, close-cut bob, Paris frocks, high-heeled slippers and everything. But, now and then, the little girl, who is gone but not forgotten, peeks out from behind the young woman who has taken her place. No transformation can eradicate the piquant sweetness and wistful smile which belong to “America’s Sweet¬ heart.” Last night’s audience settled down in their seats with a sigh of relief after the first sound of the voices of the players. By some magic manipulation of the sound devices used in recording the voices, Miss Pickford and her di¬ rector have succeeded in producing a talking picture in which the tonal quality is natural and clear without a trace of mechanical wheeze and grating. Mary’s voice itself is a delight in its clarity and resonance, equally effective in its youthful lightness and in its more mature throatiness during the tensely dra¬ matic moments of the drama. “The perfect screen voice,” would faith¬ fully describe Mary’s. With the same decision with which she cut off her curls and tucked away her childish past, Miss Pickford has selected the most dra¬ matic and powerful of the current Broadway stage successes as the first screen express-ion of her new self. As Norma Besant, the little belle of a small town, Miss Pickford re¬ veals superlative appeal and force. She portrays the emotional devel¬ opment of this little flirt from gay girlhood to tragic womanhood with an understanding and finesse, that "clinches her place in the forefront of screen stars. “Coquette” is the love story of one of today’s girls, who dances, kisses, flirts and plays in the moon¬ light, making a grand and glorious game of life. One day she meets a man from a different world, a serious young mountaineer. Michael Jeffrey loves Norma as she has never been loved before, who re¬ fuses to play her “come hither” game of insincerity. Suddenly Norma realizes that she loves this gallant stranger with an emotion which frightens her. Her father, gentleman of an old school, orders their separation. After wretched months, in which Michael works in the hills while Norma waits for his return, Michael comes back for a glimpse of her, and Norma persuades him to take her to his cabin in the hills for a few moments of happiness and sol¬ itude. They are seen leaving the cabin, and the news is spread through the town. Norma’s father, heartbroken, shoots young Michael. Norma, idealizing her lost love— is at first utterly indifferent to the fate of her father. Then filial duty leads her to the supreme sacrifice of blackening Michael’s name to gain her father’s acquittal. The court room scene, with the gallant, USE REVIEW 8 — One-Col. Scene (Mat 5 c, Cut 30c) MARY PICKFORD in'Coquette’’ little coquette on the witness stand, and the moment in which she and her father are reconciled in a final understanding of love and . sym¬ pathy, will live a long time in the annals of dramatic climax. Then the proud old father in turn makes a sacrifice which atones for his rash act. John Mack Brown, Alabama’s ex-football star, makes a splendid Michael. John Sainpolis gives a portrayal of the father, vivid in the force of its quiet sincerity. William Janney is excellent as the younger brother of the little coquette, and Matt Moore paints a realistic pic¬ ture of . the quiet; faithful lover, Stanley. George Irving, Lo9 Beavers, Phyllis Crane and 9 Depew are excellent in smaH roles. -- Comedy is Abundant in Mary’s "Caquetik Touches of quaint and whimJBfl comedy in Mary Pickford’s newgg picture, “Coquette,” now playinJPHI the.Theatre, are many. Director Sam Taylor, a graduate of the Harold Lloyd school of com¬ edy, has lightened the drama of Miss Pickford’s story of the little, Southern coquette with effective bits of a gaiety and youthfulness. The opening scenes, in which the heroine attempts to dispose of her faithful lover, Stanley, in favor of her newest conquet, reflect humor of every day realism. « * i The efforts of the younger fa ther, Jimmy, to achieve manhood in the / smoking of his after-dinner cigarettes and in his disgust at coquetries of his sister and ft&f friends will bring an understanding: smile to all men who were onSe boys. The pathetic comedy of the scene in which Norma tries to fol¬ low the intricate dance steps dem¬ onstrated to her by her young friends, while her heart is torn by mental anxiety, could have been produced only by a master hand.